The defendant on July fourth will be brought to trial three years after Illinois's attack

Waukegan, sick (AP) – The trial against a suburban Chicago man who is accused of a parade on a parade on independence day 2022, in which seven people and wounded dozens are to begin on Monday.

Robert Crimo III is the first degree with 21 murder cases, three cases tried for every person killed and 48 murder cases. The public prosecutor dropped the less serious 48 cases of a tightened battery before the jury was selected last week.

The path to the process was bumpy, which is partly due to the unpredictability of crimo, including his rejection of a plea deal that even surprised his lawyers. When potential jurors were interviewed last week, he appeared sporadically in court and temporarily refused to leave his prison cell.

The authorities stated that crimo was sitting on a roof and fired in the crowds to have gathered the annual parade on July fourth in Downtown Highland Park, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Chicago.

The prosecutors submitted thousands of evidence as well as hours from a survey recorded on video, during which the police said that crimo was the shootout. But the 24-year-old has not guilty since then.

His defenders rejected a comment before the trial, which is expected to take a month.

His father, Robert Crimo Jr., a former mayor candidate, was charged with the preservation of an weapon license. In 2023 he was guilty of passing seven offenses from ruthless behaviors and served less than two months in prison.

He took part in his son's hearing and sometimes made eye contact with him during the court. He refused to discuss the case in detail before the process.

“As a parent, I love my son very much,” he said. “And Bobby loves this country more than anyone else.”

The public prosecutor is planning to call several law enforcement officers and survivors of the shootout in order to testify. You will also show videos of crimos statements to the police. Some of the videos have already been shown in court when the prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to throw them out.

The unpredictable behavior of crimo has contributed to delays in the court.

He fired his public defenders and said that he would represent himself and then vice versa. In June 2024, when he was expected to accept a plea deal and gave the victims and relatives the opportunity to address him publicly, he came to the court in a wheelchair and rejected the deal.

The inhabitants of the wealthy Highland Park of around 30,000 at Lake Michigan mourned the losses. Some potential jurors were excused for their connections to the case.

The city guides canceled the usual parade in 2023 and decided on a “community walk”. The parade was set again last year on a different route and with a monument to the victims.

“Our community is once again reminded of the immense pain and trauma caused by the Highland Park shooting,” said the mayor of Highland Park, Nancy Rotering, in a statement before the jury was selected. “Our hearts remain with the victims, their families and all those whose life has been changed forever through this devastating day.”

The victims killed by the shootout were Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; Eduardo Uvaldo, 69; and married couple Kevin McCarthy (37) and Irina McCarthy, 35.

Survivors and their families have submitted several lawsuits, including the manufacturer of the semi -automatic rifle, which is initiated by the shootout and against the authorities who are accused of negligence.